News and AnalysIs for

After 30 hours of continuous negotiations and on the eve of the deadline, Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and its main workers union USO reached a collective bargaining agreement that will run from 2014-2018. The agreement came in the midst of threats of a union wide strike, and concedes a study group to limit the outsourcing of workers.

The Minister of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) Tomás González gave his first full interview on the major issues facing his office and appointment, and promised that the country will soon return to daily production figures of above a million barrels a day.

The first encounter between victims of the armed conflict in Colombia and the peace negotiators of the government and Farc guerrillas took place last weekend, as the talks dive into this emotionally laden topic.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) shipped proportionally less crude to the US than at any time in the last three-and-a-half years. Europe continues to increase in importance to the NOC.

The General Controller’s office has published a book that analyses the impact of the General Royalty System (SGR), and says there are several systemic issues that have led to a low execution rate of royalty projects.

The State Council has supported an injunction filed by Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC), and ruled that regional and local entities cannot establish areas that limit oil or mining activities, as they are an issue of the central government.

When we first published a graph like this we thought it was a one-time joke we would never have to drag out again. Unfortunately, we were wrong and it may not be a joke.

After a delay of at least a year for the sale of the 57.6% share that the government has in electrical energy generator Isagén, the idea of floating more of its control of Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) on the public market to pay for infrastructure investments has resurfaced.

After 26 months of the General Royalty System (SGR) authorities have celebrated the successful finish of 1,060 projects, while 2,811 remain in the execution phase.

After more than a month of protests, blockades and clashes the mayor of Puerto Asís has called on the Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo to attend to the indigenous communities concerns to end the deadlock.